BACKSTORY: A songwriter blending psychedelic folk, soul, dub, indie rock, and more into a one-of-a-kind stew
FROM: South Florida, now based in NYC
YOU MIGHT KNOW HER FROM: Collaborations with Big Thief, Immanuel Wilkins, Ada Lea, or Rachika Nayar; opening for Nick Hakim on her first tour
NOW: Off the strength of EPs released in 2022 and 2023, she’s linked up with Jagjaguwar to release her powerful, mesmerizing debut LP, Follow the Light
June McDoom has always had a fascination with music, but she never fancied herself a songwriter. She didn’t play in her school’s band, and she never really dabbled in music classes outside of those that were required courses. In the 10th grade, though, she realized she liked to sing. Her parents, eager to support the hobbies she was interested in, discovered a summer program at the Berklee College of Music outside of Boston. Living in South Florida, McDoom didn’t realize that music was something people pursued, wasn’t something anyone “studied.” That summer introduced her to the lifepath she follows to this day.
“I learned about jazz from that summer camp, and when I went home I continued learning,” she explains over Zoom. From there, she got accepted into the GRAMMY Foundation’s jazz program, a nationwide competition. It was at that point that she discovered she might have a knack for music. “I guess I’m good enough to do this, because it was a really selective competition,” she remembers thinking. She was chosen as a vocalist, learning alongside singers who had been honing their craft since they were young children.
Though her education makes its way into the music featured on her newly released debut LP Follow the Light, it’s equally imbued with the sounds she was raised on—long before she thought about writing her own songs, let alone releasing albums. On the stunning Jagjaguwar release, McDoom moves from dub to chamber-pop to folk, incorporating all these various strains of popular music into a style that’s been approximated in different arenas, but never as fully immersive as Follow the Light. Listening to the LP is like finding a trove of sounds you didn’t even know existed: The harp can be backed by a dub drum groove? Folk melodies have a place in reggae? There's a throughline from doo-wop to trip-hop? “My purpose with making this record was trying to tie in the heritage that I’ve recently refound with the other stuff that feels like a huge part of who I am,” she explains.
“My purpose with making this record was trying to tie in the heritage that I’ve recently refound with the other stuff that feels like a huge part of who I am.”
Rediscovering that heritage was a huge aspect of creating Follow the Light. Growing up, she shied away from the music her parents would play. Her dad was a carpenter who also DJ’d and built his own soundsystem. Extraordinarily cool, yes, but McDoom was more interested in fitting in with her classmates. “They only listened to Jamaican music and I didn’t really fit in with a lot of my peers, so I decided to listen to popular American music. It wasn’t until college that I got back into Jamaican music. My dad only listens to reggae and rocksteady, older Jamaican music, ’80s dancehall, stuff like that.” The influence of her dad’s musical taste makes its way onto the album. “Dream Dub” even samples an ’80s record from her pops’ music collection.
Though that’s the most literal interpolation of her family’s ancestry on the record, Follow the Light is deeply informed by the social and musical lineage passed down from her parents and ancestors. The album title itself is a reminder to follow the path that’s been illuminated by forebears. “The concept refers to how my family has shaped me in indirect ways,” McDoom explains. “I’m trying to follow positivity in my life, which has been my family. There’s so much negativity around us, but if you just remember to focus on the things in your life that are positive and help give direction, life can be really simple.”
It’s this blend of the simple and complex that animates all of the most delightful moments on Follow the Light. “Without You” drifts between a marching, acoustic lament and an old-school pop classic, equal parts Laurel Canyon folk and The Ronettes. “Mountain” begins with a beautiful string suite and uses the mesmerizing low end of a bowed bass drone to give the song an anchor. The steadying-yet-minimal drums help solidify the backbone. McDoom saves the title track for last, a psychedelic, spiritual dub trip that encapsulates the various styles with which she delights on the project. Tom drums roll, a classic dub melody and percussive part bring the track back to the ’70s, and a delicate piano line imbues it with an otherworldly beauty.
“I want to encourage people to get into the weird stuff. I’ve never really fully fit in, and I want to encourage people to be proud of not always fitting in.”
All of this supports the purpose of Follow the Light, McDoom’s reason for making music, really. “I love so many different genres. There are certain genres I play that are more popular, but I felt like it was important for me to include elements of music that are underlooked,” she explains. More than anything else, she wants to shine a light on the music that’s shaped her. “A lot of people have different interests, and I want to encourage people to get into the weird stuff. I’ve never really fully fit in, and I want to encourage people to be proud of not always fitting in.”
While June McDoom spent a lot of time searching for a scene she fit into, she’s now expanded her scope and is building a world for others to find a home within. It’s a space she shares passionately with her friends, her partner and collaborator Evan Wright, and other musical peers. In New York, where McDoom and Wright now reside, she has “the most amazing community where we’re all so, so different, and we all encourage each other to keep doing weird things.” It’s in this world that Follow the Light exists.
“We have this space that we’ve created, and we all have similar experiences where we grew up as outsiders,” she shares. “We’re really proud of the things that have shaped us, and we stand by them very strongly.” Follow the Light, then, is a breathtaking manifestation of June McDoom’s history. FL
